‘Encryption is a human right’: Wikipedia aims to lock out NSA

Wikipedia is taking steps to make its site ‘unsnoopable’ to the NSA following revelations that its site users were being spied on. The measures will include the use of secure encryption for its logged-in users to minimize eavesdropping.

The non-profit US-based organization that manages Wikipedia,
Wikimedia, has released a statement, announcing the introduction
of HTTPS security protocol on its website to protect its
visitors.

“[Wikipedia] believes strongly in protecting the privacy of
its readers and editors. Recent leaks of the NSA’s XKeyscore
program have prompted our community members to push for the use
of HTTPS by default for the Wikimedia projects,” said the
statement published on the organization’s website.

HTTPS protocol shields against eavesdropping and tampering with
internet communications, using bilateral encryption between the
server and the internet user.

Using the protocol would minimize the risks of the snooping on
users’ internet activity.

A report by UK publication The Guardian revealed that the NSA was
monitoring the users who accessed one of the world’s most popular
websites. In response to the revelation the organization’s
co-founder, Jimmy Wales announced that Wikipedia would be
introducing security measures to protect site visitors, starting
from August 21.

However, he noted that bugs were delaying the upgrade from
regular HTTP protocol to HTTPS.

"Our current architecture cannot handle HTTPS by default, but
we've been incrementally making changes to make it possible.
Since we appear to be specifically targeted by XKeyscore, we'll
be speeding up these efforts," Wikimedia said on its website.

Wales also called on other companies to get behind him on his
Twitter page, saying that “encryption is a human rights
issue.” Furthermore, he proposed an idea for a new fourth
amendment whereby the American government would not be allowed to
decrypt encoded material unless they have a warrant and he called
for immunity for whistleblowers.

The US National Security Agency has come under fire recently
after former CIA employee Edward Snowden released classified
data, blowing the whistle on various government programs that
spied on citizens.

Since the revelations on the global spy programs used by
Washington, the Obama Administration has sought to justify the
mass surveillance as a necessary measure to ensure national
security.

The White House has also issued an order of extradition against
Snowden on charges of espionage. The whistleblower is currently
in Russia, where he was granted temporary asylum by the Russian
government.

The US government have described Russia’s move to grant Snowden
asylum as “an unfortunate step” for bilateral relations.